The present invention generally relates to an approach for extracting data, and more specifically, to a data index using a linked data standard.
A single query may be performed on information that is stored on multiple computer programs, databases, files, or other types of data sources. One existing approach for performing the query involves extracting the data from individual sources, transforming the data into an architected organization, and then loading the data into a data warehouse. The data warehouse stores data from the various computer programs, databases, files or other data sources, where the data may be queried, analyzed, or reported. This approach may be referred to as an extract, transform, and load (ETL) process for building a data warehouse.
The ETL approach may have several drawbacks. For example, the ETL process may be relatively time-consuming. Thus, the ETL process is generally executed only once or twice in a day. As a result, the data contained in the warehouse may be relatively stale. Moreover, the ETL process is relatively complex and may be difficult to maintain, especially if new data types are introduced, or if changes are made to existing data types. Also, it may not be possible to automatically enforce various types of data control rules from the data sources on the data that is stored in the data warehouse.